What Does Ezekiel 38:22 Mean?
And I will judge him with plague and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his wings, and upon the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire, and sulfur.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.THE KEY
The word translated “plead” shares its root with “judge”: this is not a petition but judgment entering directly against the man and the force gathered with him.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks of judgment as a total confrontation: pestilence, blood, deluge, hail, fire, and brimstone fall on the leader and the gathered force around him. Its violence leaves no safe perimeter. The force assembled here is met by a judgment it cannot contain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a leader becomes untouchable through numbers or force is undone here: neither he nor the multitude with him stands beyond judgment.
THE ROOT
נִשְׁפַּטְתִּי
nishpatti
GROWS FROM
שפט
shaphat
To judge, decide a case, or govern.
“Plead” comes from the same root as שֹׁפֵט (shofet, judge) and מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, judgment). The Hebrew frames this as entering judgment against him, making the judgment itself, not a plea for leniency, the center of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: Judge.
שֹׁפֵט
This is the person who carries out the same judging named by the root behind “plead.”
mishpat: Judgment or a ruling.
מִשְׁפָּט
It makes explicit the judgment contained in the verb: the encounter is a direct reckoning.
שׁוֹטֵף
shotef
GROWS FROM
שטף
shataf
To sweep over, flood, or inundate.
“overflowing rain” in this verse is shotef. The rain is described with a word for a sweeping flood. The root gives the image its force: judgment arrives as something that overwhelms the gathered multitude, alongside the hail, fire, and brimstone named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
shetef: A flood or torrent.
שֶׁטֶף
This branch makes the verse’s “overflowing rain” feel like an inundating force, not a gentle shower.
shitafon: A flood or inundation.
שִׁטָּפוֹן
It carries the same root sense of a force that sweeps over and overwhelms.
THE PATTERN
Judgment reaches gathered opposition through forces that overwhelm its defenses.
And Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, and the LORD gave thunder and hail, and fire walked along the ground, and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt.The LORD thunders in the heavens, and the Most High gives his voice; hailstones and coals of fire.And a great hail comes down out of heaven upon the people, each stone weighing about a talent, and the people speak harm against God because of the blow of the hail, for its blow is exceedingly great.THE THREAD
Before the face of the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth; he judges the world in alignment, and the peoples in his steadiness.“Judge” in Psalm 96:13 comes from שפט (shaphat), the same root as Ezekiel’s “plead.” Psalm 96 names judgment reaching the whole earth; Ezekiel shows its force falling on a leader and the multitude gathered with him.
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